Skip feed mechanism



June 24, 1947. c, JACOBSQN 2,422,783

SKIP FEED MECHANISM Filed Nov. 30, 1942 7 Sheets-Shet 1 June 24, 1947. c. JACOBSON 2,422,733

SKIP FEED MECHANISM Filed Nov. 30, 1942 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 2.

INVENT OR.

ATTORNEY June 24, 1947. c. JACOBSON 2,422,733

SKIP FEED MECHANISM Filed Nov. 30, 1942 7 Sheets-Sheet s E E INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY June24, 1947. c. JAC OBSON 2,422,733 7 SKIP FEED MECHANISM 7 Sheets-Sheet 4 Fild Nov. 30, 1942 FIG. 4.

ATTORNEY June 24, 1947. c. JACOBSON SKIP FEED MECHANISM Filed Nov. 30, 1942 -7 Sheets-Sheet 5 June 24, 1947. c. JACOBSON SKIP FEED MECHANISM Filed Nov. so, 1942 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 F'IG.8.

I i v INVENTOR A EY June 24, 1947. c. JACOBSON 2,422,733

SKIP FEED MECHANISM Filed Nov. 30, 1942 7 Sheets-Sheet 7 INVENTOR.

v ,A ORNEY Patented June-.24, 19.47

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SKIP FEED DIECHANISM Charles Jacobson, New York, N. Y., assignor to S. & S. Corrugated Paper Machinery Co. Inc., Brooklyn, N, Y., a corporation of New York Application November 30, 1942, Serial No. 467,344

In the manufacture of printed, slotted and on by the printer-slotter are of uniform length,

then an ordinary feeding mechanism of a type which is now well known in the art may be used. Where, however, the blanks may vary widely in length, then if the feed mechanism is arranged so that it will accommodate itself to the longest blank, a great deal of added material is required for the machine; and the machine, especially the stack supporting and feeding portion thereof, will occupy an excessive amount of space.

It is therefore preferred to construct the ma- Q chine so that relatively short blanks may be fed by successive feeding operations. Where, however, the blanks are much longer in length, then should the feeding operation take place on each cycle of movement of the feed mechanism a blank may not be cleared through the printerslotter mechanism before the next blank is fed in on top of it.

Accordingly, it becomes necessary to devise a simplified skip-feed device which may selectively be put into operation or disconnected. The skipfeed device is used when blanks of greater length are to be fed through the mechanism.

In this case, the skip-feed mechanism is adjusted so that the feeding device will operate upon every other cycle and will be disengaged from operating at intermediate cycles. This will permit a long blank which is, fed out from the stack to be cleared through the mechanism before the next blank is fed in. That is, when the blanks are fed every other cycle, an extra long blank will be grasped by the feed roll and passed into the printer-slotter mechanism before the next blank reaches the feed rolls.

. The skip-feed mechanism obviously must be adjustable or rather disconnectible and connectible so that when short blanks are fed through the mechanism thus permitting a feeding operation 2 during every cycle of the feeding mechanism, the skip feed will not be operative.

An important object of my invention is to provide a novel simplified skip-feed mechanism for feeding out successive blanks from the bottom of a stack at every other cycle of the feeding mechanism.

Skip-feed mechanisms are not per se new in the art. However, in actual operation, such mechanisms have depended upon complicated apparatus which lifted the stacks out of feed engaging position during one cycle, and dropped the entire stacks into feed engaging position during the next cycle. I

In my present invention, the skip-feed is obtained by varying the path of travel of the feeding mechanism during successive cycles. When the skip-feed mechanism is connected to the feeding apparatus then the feeding apparatus will be moved its full length to engage a blank in a stack during one cycle; and during the next cycle will be moved only partly back so that it will not engage the back end of the stack during the next cycle. During the following cycle, the skip-feed mechanism will now move back once more to blank engaging position. The mechanism is also so arranged that the skip-feed operation can readily be dispensed with by a simple adjustment and the feeding mechanism may move back its full travel to engage the back end of the lowest blank in the stack during each cycle.

The skip-feed mechanism is obtained by the utilization of a collapsible connecting toggle between the operating apparatus for the skip-feed and the skip-feed member itself. When the toggle is extended, the feeding apparatus is given its full length of travel. When 'the toggle is partly collapsed, the skip-feed mechanism is given only a partial travel, and thus does not reach back far enough to engage the stack.

The adjustment apparatus of my invention is so arranged that when the skip-feed mechanism is operative, the toggle will alternately be extended and collapsed during alternate cycles of the feeding mechanism.

A further object of my invention therefore is to provide in connection with a blank feeding mechanism, a connecting member for the feeding mechanism, said connecting member being automatically adjustable in length.

Still another object of my invention is to provid between the operating members for feeding apparatus and the feeding apparatus itself a toggle connecting element which may selectively be collapsed or straightened to provide different paths of travel for the feeding mecha-' nism,

These and many other objects of my invention will become apparent and where they are not apparent will be pointed out in the following description and drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a schematic view in perspective of my novel skip-feed mechanism.

Figure 2 is a cross sectional view of my novel feeding mechanisms showing the operation of my skip-feed, the said view being taken on line 22 of Figure 3 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 3 is a top plan view partly in cross section taken along line 33 of Figure 2 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 4 is a cross sectional view taken along line 44 of Figure 3 looking in the direction of the arrows. J

1 Figure 5 is a, view corresponding substantially to that of Figure 2 showing a different position of the feeding apparatus.

Figure 6 is a view corresponding substantially to that of Figure 5 showing'another position of th 'i'eeding apparatus.

Figure 7 is a. cross sectional view taken on line 1-1 of Figure 3 looking inthe direction of the arrows.

Figure 8 is a cross sectional view taken on line 8-8 of Figure 3 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 9 is a cross sectional view taken on line 9-9 of Figure 3 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 10 is a view corresponding to that of Figure 9 showing a different position of the operating element,

Referring now to the schematic view of Figure 1 and the cross sectional views of Figures 2 and 3, the printing-slotting apparatus is provided with a principal drive shaft 28 carrying the principal driving gear 2 Any suitable source of power may be connected to the drive shaft 28 for driving the mechanism. The principal drive gear 2|, through the various gear trains 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, and 21 and other gears not shown, drives the feed rollers 38 and 3|, the upper and lower printing rollers 32 and 83, the additional feed rollers 34 and 35, and any other rollers or shafts which it is necessary to operate in order to obtain appropriate printing, slotting, creasing, or other similar operations upon the blank which is fed between the said rollers.

The face of the main drive gear 2| is provided with a pin 48 secured thereto in any suitable manner at a distance from the center of rotation thereof, and carrying rotatably mounted thereon the slide block 4|.

The slide block 4| is captured by the crank arm 4'2 which is provided with a longitudinal slot 43 within which thevslide block 4| may slide. The sides of the slot 43 are so arranged as to retain the slide block 4| against unintentional removal therefrom.

It will now be obvious that rotation of the gear 2| resulting in corresponding rotation of the pin 48 will in effect cause the slide block 4| alternately to move from one side of the shaft 28 to the other. 7

Since the crank arm 42 is keyed to the shaft 45, and since the lower end of the crank arm is pivotally fixed in definite relation to the shaft 28, the alternate movement of the side block 4| from side to side of the shaft 28 will result in the alternate swinging from right to left'of the crank arm 4 This will result in alternate rotation of the shaft 45 clockwise and counterclockwise, then clockwise once more.

Crank arm 41 is keyed to the shaft 45 and hence rotatable therewith. Therefore, the alternate rotation in one direction and then in the other of the shaft 45 will produce a corresponding oscillation of the crank arm 41-, the said crank arm 41 oscillating back and forth in synchronism with the crank arm 42.

The free end of the crank arm 41 is pivotally connected at 48 to the toggle link 49 which is by the knee pin 58 connected to the other toggle link 5| which in turn is at 52 pivotally connected to the depending lug 53 of the feed carrying arm 55. The feed carrying arm-55 is provided with a plurality of vertical rollers 56, 56 adapted to ride on the rails 51 on the bed of the apparatus. The feed arm is also provided with a plurality of horizontal rollers 58, 58 adaptedto bear against the vertical rails 68 on the bed of the apparatus.

Both the rails 51 and 68 are supported on the I frame platform 6|.

It will be obvious that the feed arm 55 is connected to the shaft 45 in exactly the same manner as is the feed arm 55 and is operated thereby likewise in the same manner.

It will now be clearthat as the shaft 45 rotates clockwise thus rotating the crank arm 41 clockwise, then through the toggle 495|, this clockwise rotation of the crank arm 41 will be translated into a full movement toward the right of the feed carrying arm 55. This will be so as long as the knee pin 58 of the toggle 495| is supported. Likewise movement to the left of the crank arm 41 will, through the toggle 4*9-5l, pull the feed carrying arm 55 to the left to result in a feed out of the blank which has been engaged by the feeding element 65 on the feed arm 55.

The knee pin 58 of the toggle is supported and controlled by the link 18 which is pivoted thereto at one end. The opposite end of the link is pivoted on the pin H to the arm 13 of the bell crank lever I4.

Bell crank lever 14 is provided with an openin 15 which is freely mounted on the shaft 45 and hence is rotatable with respect thereto, and not affected by the rotation thereof.

The oppositearm 16 of the bell crank lever is pivotally connected by the pin 11 to the control lever 18. Control lever 18 is providedwith the ring bearings 88 at the opposite end thereof, the said ring bearings bein formed from a halfcircular section 8| integral with the lever 18, and

an additional half-circular section 82 bolted at 83,83 to the first circular half-section 8| thus forming a ring bearing which embraces the eccentric 98.

The eccentric 98 as may readily be seen from Figure 3, is provided with annular flanges 9|, 9|

which embrace the ring bearing 88 and maintain the same in position thereon. The eccentric 98 is keyed to and rotatable with the shaft which carries at its outer end the gear 96. Shaft 28 carries at its inner end gear 91 which through the adjustaible idler gear 98 drives the gear 96, and hence rotates shaft 95 to cause rotation of the eccentric 98.

Figures 2 and 8 illustrate the position of the elements when the eccentric member 98 is fixed against rotation and the adjustable idler gear 98 has been moved out of engagement with the gear anavss I 81 so that no motion may be transmitted from the shaft 20 to the shaft 85.

been moved'out of engagement with gear 81 r and likewise for purposes of the present discussion, the same assumption should be made with respect to Figure 3.

It will be obvious, especially from Figure 3 (and also Figures 7 and 8) that the gear 88 is mounted on a stub-shaft I00, which in. turn is rotatably carried in the bearing IOI at the end of the adjusting arm I02. Adjusting arm I02 is provided with an opening I03 which is mounted on the outer end of shaft 85, but is really rotatable thereabout'.

As seenin Figure 3, the adjustment arm I02 need not necessarily be mounted directly on the shaft 85, but may be mounted on a sleeve I05 surrounding the shaft 85 but spaced therefrom and being supported by bolts I08 which passes through a flange I01 on the said sleeve and into. the 'bearing housing I08.

The bearing hOllSlng I08 for shaft 85 as will be seen in Figure 3, also comprises a gear housing for the gear train 81, 88 and 86.

When the handle I I0 at the end of the arm I02 is therefore pushed down, the said shaft I00 carrying the gear 88 is lifted up at the opposite end; thus as shown in Figure 8, disengaging the the stack during each feed cycle. In this nonskip feed arrangement, it is desirable that the eccentric 80 be in the position shown in Figures 1 and 3, where the narrowest portion thereof is the shaft I 2| carried in any suitable bearing on the frame and is provided with a sprocket wheel I22 carrying a chain I23 engageable with a sprocket wheel I24 on the shaft 85.

When the gear wheel 88 has been disengaged by depressing lever I I0, the hand wheel I20 is then rotated until the shaft 85 has been rotated I to a position where the eccentric 80 is in a position shown in Figure 3, and the shaft 85 is then locked into this position. A suitable indicator may be mounted on the end of shaft 85 for this purpose.

The locking engagement is obtained by means of the pawl I pivotally mounted at I3I on the frame of the machine, the end I32 of the pawl being urged upwardly by the tension spring I33 engaging the opposite arm I34 of the pawl lever (see Figure 8). I

A sleeve I38 on the shaft 85 is provided with a notch I40 and the said pawl end I32 will be forced into engagement with the notch I40 when the notch moves opposite this pawl end. This condition will obtain when the eccentric 80 has been moved to the position of Figure 3.

When the skip-feed mechanism has been rendered operative once more by raising of the handle 0 then it is necessary that the pawl arm I30 be moved to disengaged position so that. the shaft 85 may freely rotate. This can be obtained by providing a roller I on the adjustment arm I02, the said roller I45 bearing against the arm I30 of the pawl member and pressing it down when the handle I I 0 has been raised, thus disengaging the pawl from the notch I 40 as shown in Figure 7, and maintaining the pawl in disengaged position until the handle III is raised once more.

The handle I I0 is provided with a locking pin I which is carried by an arm I53 on the frame (see Figures 3 and 8) and passes through a slot I52 in the handle.

A lock nut I55 is mounted on the end of the locking pin I50, the lock nut being provided with a handle I56. vWhen the handle III! has been moved to selected position, rotation of the lock nut handle I58 wil lock it in such position.

Now as will be obvious from inspection of Figures 1, 2 and 3 (especially Figure 1) when the adjustable lever 18 has been pulled furthest to the left, the bell crank lever 14 has been rotated to its greatest extent counterclockwise, and consequently pin 1| has been lifted to its highest position.

Accordingly, link 10 has been lifted to its highest position, thus raising the knee pin 50. Since the knee pin 50 of the toggle 48-5I has been raised, this toggle 49-5I has been extended to its greatest extent. Now when the shaft 45 oscillates back and forth the toggle 485I will similarly oscillate back and forth being maintained in its extended position by the link 10 which in turn is 'pivotal on the pin 1I.

Consequently, the feed carrying member 55 will during each cycle be pushed back to its greatest extent. When as shown in Figure 2, the feed member 85 has been pushed back to its greatest extent, it bears behind the lowest blank I in the stack I6I, so that on the return movement it will feed this blank out between the feed rolls 30-3I.

As will be obvious, the feed apparatus consists of a spring member I10 which is urged upwardly and an additional raised member "I carried by the spring member and forming an abutment I12 which is caught behind the rear end of the lowest blank in the stack when the feed mechanism is forced back.

Consequently, in this locked non-oscillating position of the adjustable arm'18, the feed mechanism will feed during every cycle and will not skip cycles.

When the handle IIO has been raised to cause the gear 88 to be engaged between gears 85 and 81, then the pawl I32 is withdrawn from locking engagement as previously described so that the shaft may rotate, and the shaft 85 is caused to rotate by the gear train 81, 88 and 88. Accordingly, the eccentric 8,0 will-now rotate. As the eccentric rotates-it will cause the adjustable lever 18 to oscillate back and forth.

During the movement of the lever 18 toward shaft 45 the bell crank lever 13 will be rotated clockwise to lower the pin H, and hence pull down the knee pin 50 of the toggle thus collapsing the toggle 485I and hence shortening the distance between pin 48 and pin 52, thereby shortening the travel of the feed arm 55.

When the eccentric rotates to the. opposite position where the widest side thereof is on the opposite side from the lever 18, then when the lever 18 is pulled back to the left once more the knee pin 50 of the toggle 48'5I is raised again.

The gear ratios are so adjusted that the shaft 45 will oscillate back and forth twice for each single rotation of the shaft 95. Accordingly, when the shaft 95 is rotating. then during one oscillation of shaft 45, the toggle 49-5! will be extended to its fullest extent, but during the next .oscillation of the shaft 45, the toggle 49-5! will be collapsed.

When the feed mechanism is then moved back while the toggle 49-51 is collapsed, then the elements assume the position shown in Figure 4 where the blank engaging member 65 does not move to the back of the stack I61, and thus does not engage the lowest blank in the stack. Thus, when the feed arm 55 moves back and forth while the toggle 49--5| ls collapsed, a waste motion is produced and no feeding occurs. Therefore when very long blanks are to be fed by the feeding mechanism, then if the blanks are of such length that one blank will not be cleared from the stack before the next blank is to be fed, the mechanism is adjusted so that the shaft 95 will be caused to rotate thus making every other oscillatory movement of the feed mechanism an idle one and thus providing for a skip-feed device.

This becomes more obvious from an inspection of Figure 4. In Figure 4 the position of the apparatus is shown with the feed mechanism pushed back to its greatest extent preliminary to the feeding operation. It will here be seen that the feed mechanism 65 has not been moved back sumciently far to engage the back end of the lowest blank.

Thus in Figure 5 it will be seen that during the feed-out operation when the skip-feed mechanism has thus been effective, no blanks are being fed at all.

During alternate feeding strokes a feeding op-- eration will occur as shown by the engagement of the feed mechanism 65 with the back end of the lowest blank H50 in the stack as seen in Figure 6.

The manner in which, when th skip-feed mechanism is engaged, the feed stroke is alternately lengthened and shortened should now beobvious.

It is however more fully explained in connection with the legends on Figures 9 and 10 which show the different positions of the mechanism, and particularly the different positions, collapsed and extended, of the toggle 495I.

In the foregoing I have set forth my invention in connection with only a preferred embodiment thereof. The essence of the invention lies in the fact that a toggle connecting mechanism between the feed operating element and the feed arm itself may alternately be collapsed or extended to produce an alternate feed interpolated with an alternate waste motion.

This skip-feed mechanism may be rendered inoperative so that the toggle is extended during every stroke of the feed arm to produce successive feeding operations on successive feed arm strokes.

Many variations of the foregoing preferred embodiments of my invention should now be obvious to those skilled in the art. Accordingly I prefer to be bound not by the specific description therein but only by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In apparatus forfeeding successive blanks from the stacks, a feed arm, means for causing said feed arm to oscillate back and forth beneath said stack, means on the end of said feed arm engageable with the back end of a blank atthe bottom of said stack upon completion of the stroke of said oscillating feed arm in one direction, said means feeding said blank out from said stack on movement of said arm in said opposite direction, and means for alternately changing the degree of travel of said feed arm causing said feed arm to move to engag in blanks at the bottom of the stack in ,each alternate stroke and causing said feed arm to move to a position short of the back end of the blank in the bottom of the stack in each interpolated stroke.

2. In apparatus for feeding successive blanks from the stacks, a feed arm, means for causing said feed arm to oscillate back and forth beneath said stack, means on the end of said feed arm engageable with the back end of a blank at the bottom of said stack upon completion of the stroke of said oscillating feed arm in one direction, said means feeding said blank out from said stack on movement of said arm in said opposite direction, and means for alternately changing the degree of travel of said feed arm causing said feed arm to move to engage in blanks at the bottom of the stack in each alternate stroke and causing said feed arm to move to a position short of the back end of the blank in the bottom of the stack in each interpolated stroke, said last mentioned means being rendered selectively inoperative to cause said feed arm vto engage a blank at each stroke thereof.

3. In apparatus for feeding successive blanks from the stacks, a feed arm, means for causing said feed arm to oscillate back and forth beneath said stack, means on the end of said feed arm engageable with the back end of a blank at the bottom of said stack upon completion of the stroke of said oscillating feed arm in one direction, said means feeding said blank out from said stack on movement of said arm in said opposite direction, and means for alternately changing the degree of travel of said feed arm causing said feed arm to move to engage in blanks at the'bottom of the stack in each alternate stroke and causing said feed arm to move to a position short of the back end of the blank in the bottom of the stack in each interpolated stroke, said last mentioned means comprising an oscillatable crank arm, a toggle connection between said oscillatable crank arm and said feed arm and means for alternately collapsing and extending said toggle at alternate strokes.

4. In apparatus for feeding successive blanks from the stacks, a feed arm, means for causing said feed arm to oscillate back and forth beneath said stack, means on the end of said feed arm engageable with the back end of a blank at the bottom of said stack upon completion of the stroke of said oscillating feed arm in one direction, said means feeding said blank out from said stack on movement of said arm in said opposite direction, and means for alternately changing the degree of travel of said feed arm causing said feed arm to move to engage in blanks at the bottom of the stack in each alternate stroke and causing said feed arm to move to a position short of the back end of the blank in the bottom of the stack in each interpolated stroke, said last mentioned means comprising an oscillatable crank arm, a toggle connection between said oscillatable crank arm and said feed arm and a link connected to the knee pin of said toggle, and means for raising and lowering said link during alternate strokes of said feed arm to alternately collapse and extend said toggle.

5. In apparatus for feeding successive blanks from the stacks, a feedarm, means for causing said feed arm to oscillate back and forth beneath said stack, means on the end of said feed arm engageable with the back end of a blank at the bottom of said stack upon completion of the,

stroke of said oscillating feed arm in one direction, said means feeding said blank out from said stack on movement of said arm in said opposite direction, and means for alternately changing the degree of travel of said feed arm causing said feed arm to'move to engage in blanks at the bottom of the stack in each alternate stroke and causing said feed arm' to move to a position short of the back end of the blank in the bottom of the stack in each interpolated stroke, said last mentioned means comprising an oscillatable crank arm, a toggle connection between said oscillatable crank arm and said feed arm and a link connected to the knee pin of saidtoggle, and means for raising and lowering said link during alternate strokes of said feed arm to alternately collapse and extend said toggle, said last mentioned means comprising an additional arm and a member for os-' cillating said additional arm, said additional arm being connected to said link for raising and lowering the same.

. 6. In apparatus for feeding successive blanks from the stacks, a feed arm, means for causing said feed arm to oscillat back and forth beneath said stack, means on the end of said feed arm engageable with the back end of a blank at the bottom of said stack upon completion of the stroke of said oscillating feed arm in one direction, said means feeding said blank out from said stack on movement of said arm in said opposite direction, and means for.alternately changing the degree of travel of said feed arm causing said feed arm to move to engage in blanks at the nate strokes of said feed arm to alternately collapse and extend said toggle, said last mentioned means comprising an additional arm and a member for oscillating said additional arm, said additional arm being connected to said link by a bell crank lever.

7. In apparatus for feeding successive blanks from the stacks, a feed arm, means for causing 10 said feed arm to oscillat back and forth beneath said stack, means on the end of said feed arm engageable with the back end of a blank at the bottom of said stack upon completion of the stroke of said oscillating feed arm in one direction, said means feeding said blank out from said stack on movement of said arm in said opposite direction, and means for alternately changing the degree of travel of said feed arm causing said feed arm to move to engage in blanks at the bottom of the stack in each alternate stroke and causing said feed arm to move to a position short of the back end of the blank in the bottom of the stack in each interpolated stroke, said last mentioned means comprising an oscillatable crank' 4 arm, a toggle connection between said oscillatable crank arm and said feed arm and a link connected to the knee pin of said toggle, and

'means for raising and lowering said link during alternate strokes of said feed arm to alternately collapse and extend said toggle, said last mentioned means comprising an additional arm and a member for oscillating said additional am, said additional arm being connected to said link by a bell crank lever, and an eccentric engageable with said oscillatable arm; said eccentric being operable to move said oscillatable armto collapse said toggle once during each rotation thereof and likewise to move said arm to extend said toggle once during each rotation thereof.

8. In feeding apparatus for moving a blank from the bottom of a stack, an oscillatable feed arm engageable on movement in one direction thereof with the lowest blank at the bottom of the stack and operable on movement in the other direction to move said lowest blank out of the bottom of the stack, means including collapsible driving members for oscillating said feed arm back and forth, and means .for selectively alternately extending and collapsing said driving means to vary the strokes of said feed arm during movement thereof to engage the back end in the bottom blank in the stack, said feed arm being moved to a position short of the back end of the bottom of th stack when said raising means is collapsed,

CHARLES JACOBSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

